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INNO 231CD
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"Just over one hour and five minutes, Harley Gaber's I Saw My Mother Ascending Mount Fuji (2009, for tape and processed violin and alto flute) offers proof of music's power to transport (the listener) in ways generally associated with film and literature. Fuji's Kaidan-like atmosphere -- the Japanese world of ghosts and spirits -- unfolds slowly in its process of uncovering and revealing a deeper and different spirit world in what might be termed a spiritual journey: The ascension and transformation of the human spirit into pure energy expressed in the form of both musical and non-musical sounds. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Gaber found his own unique compositional language that combined the intensity and extra-musical framing of certain post-war, European Modernism with sparser, more obviously spiritual evocations of Eastern aesthetics, as made manifest in such diverse expressions as Haiku poetry, Sumi-e painting, and even martial arts forms. In 1978, he moved from New York City to La Jolla, CA and stopped making music. Following a two-year hiatus from the arts, he commenced on what was to become a twenty year period of creating an immense body of work in the plastic arts and photography. Much of the work done during that period was informed by his musical instincts and focused, as did much of his later music, on the unity and interrelatedness of things. His predilection for collage work in general reflects and confirms that focus. The years of making art culminated with his largest artistic and personal undertaking in the construction of Die Plage, a photo-collage work of some 5,500 (20 x16 in.) canvases detailing German history in the first half of the 20th Century. With the completion of Die Plage in the early part of 2002, Gaber turned to writing about the project and to filmmaking, first using images from Die Plage for his films and eventually moving on to other subjects. His return to music began with the creation of soundtracks for all his films. Initially, the soundtracks were (again) in a collaged form using, for the most part, music of others, but also incorporating his own music from old recordings and taped performances. His real return to music composition came in 2008 with his original soundtrack for Mein Kamps: Akt V (filmed in Berlin and named after the Berlin bakery chain Kamps). That original soundtrack (existing apart from the film as a strictly musical composition is titled 'Berliner Strassen Gesang') demonstrates a richer, more complex approach to crafting and shaping sound made possible by the use of the computer in composing the work along with the twenty years of rethinking his artistic outlook in general, and his musical thinking in particular. And now, with I Saw My Mother Ascending Mount Fuji, Gaber has returned to music composition. This new work is at once a processing of untimely deaths in his family and a reconsideration of earlier compositions -- Michi for solo violin (1972) and Chimyaku for solo alto flute -- which, in their processed and altered form and in conjunction with an entirely new tape part, project a new level of insight into the essential spiritual nature of sound and its physicality; '...both transcendentally abstract and distinctly human,' as the composer puts it. The ascension of Mount Fuji is a meditative journey, a spiritual odyssey perhaps, as real as it is imagined or metaphoric. The composer, however, leaves those distinctions for each listener to decide for his or herself."
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INNO 222CD
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...And Other Dark Tales! "Radio dramas by Judson Fountain, with Sandor Weisberger. Produced by Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon. Cover portrait by Drew Friedman. Dark Dark Dark Tales offers a second collection of off-kilter, gothic-tinged audio theater by Judson Fountain, the 'Ed Wood, Jr. of radio drama.' Fashioned in the style of 1940s old-time radio plays, these recordings were produced and written by Judson in New York during the late 1960s and early 1970s and released on vinyl LP in limited editions of unknown quantity. Original copies are extremely rare and highly collectible. They are also divinely entertaining. As on its predecessor, the 2004 Innova release Completely in the Dark, Judson delivers most of the voices, including his trademark old hags, young punks, creepy thugs and hapless thieves. These simple morality tales are highlighted by spooky noises provided by needle drops from the classic Elektra Sound Effects Library. Judson's erstwhile sidekick, the avuncular Sandor Weisberger, serves as announcer and occasional leading man. In addition to seven Judson dramas released on CD for the first time, Dark Dark Dark Tales offers a new radio drama, The Nasty Roomer, written by charter 'Fountainhead' Don Brockway specially for Judson and Sandor's reunion appearance on WFMU radio in 1995. In a one-take, live sight-reading, the old friends acted their parts with élan and recaptured the atmosphere of their vintage recordings. Judson's work embodies all the peculiar qualities (and, some might say, charming flaws) of outsider art. That it has attracted a cult following over the years is not surprising, as there's nothing quite like a Judson Fountain drama. Turn off all your lights, and be completely in the dark dark dark!" Includes 16-page booklet.
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2CD
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INNO 718CD
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"Gamelan Son of Lion is a New York City-based composers' collective and repertory ensemble exploring and expanding the variety of musical styles that may be performed using Javanese and Balinese percussion orchestra. The ensemble has performed around the greater New York area and on tours abroad since 1976. This newest collection of compositions for gamelan features premiers from recent concert seasons as well as a scattering of old favorites from the past. Works by ten composer-performers of the ensemble are represented: Barbara Benary, David Demnitz, Miguel Frasconi, Daniel Goode, Lisa Karrer, Jody Kruskal, Laura Liben, Denman Maroney, John Morton and David Simons. The Indonesian Gamelan is based on a core group of metallophones (gongs and keyboards) in the traditional Javanese/Balinese tunings slendro and pelog, supplemented by gongs and drums. To the beautiful sound of the metallophones many other sounds can be added, according to the composer¹s inspiration. On this CD, in addition to the core gamelan sound, are electronically-processed music boxes in Morton's 'She (Really) Had To Go' and glass instruments in Frasconi's 'Telling Time,' Scottish fiddle and Gaelic song in Benary's 'Jigalullaby,' and a hypnotic kaleidoscope of world music strings, winds and vocal styles in Karrer's 'Kacapi.'"
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INNO 409CD
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"Let no-one say that Henry Brant, America's senior experimental composer, doesn't have a sense of humor. If Charles Ives had been into Monty Python it would not have reached the heights of epic grandeur and inspired lunacy heard on this second volume of Brant works. Here are three concertos: a triple concerto for Oberlin College's zaniest, a violin concerto for Daniel Kobialka (violin wizard of the San Francisco Symphony), and a double bass concerto for Lewis Paer (who has recorded for Steve Reich and Fame). 'Solar Moth' (a miracle of overdubbing technique whereby Brant himself plays most of the parts) creates some of the mothiest sounds ever heard, at least in this solar system. At the other underwater extreme, 'Ghost Nets' protests the destruction of marine life by driftnet fishing practices. Part Two of The Henry Brant Collection. Certified dolphin safe."
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2CD
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INNO 408CD
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"At ninety, the composer continues to produce formidable, trail-blazing symphonic works like 'Ice Field', which captured the Pulitzer last year. And his place in the history books is assured. Consider the specs: friend to Copland, Varèse, Antheil, Cowell and Partch, source of inspiration to scores of musicians worldwide, and the composer of over 100 strikingly original spatial works, a dozen of which incorporate truly massive ensembles. Nope, Brant looms large regardless. It's just that the scope and magnitude of Brant's work, its seemingly inexhaustible creative intensity, its expressive deployment of musicians in space, its fantastic combinations of tonal flavors, and, most importantly, its intrinsic listenability, would seem to make it a prime candidate for big-screen exploitation. As matters stand, though, Hollywood's denial is Innova's gain. It is with unbounded delight that we present the first installment of a great and glorious undertaking: a series of CDs featuring some of Brant's major works, most previously unreleased. The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 1, a deluxe 2-CD set featuring a pair of Brant's monumental works, 'Northern Lights Over the Twin Cities' (100 mins, 6 conductors) and 'A Plan of the Air' (25 mins, 2 conductors) provides a marvellous introduction to Brant's world."
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